Del Barber in concert

Singer/song writer Del Barber blew in from Winnipeg, Manitoba, like a warm prairie wind on Saturday, October 29, and won a lot of Ontario hearts.

Barber was the headliner at the second concert of the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage winter series: he definitely lived up to critical praise that has described him as “sincere and heartfelt” and “electric” on stage.

Winner just last week of two Western Music Awards, Barber was completely at ease in the intimate St. Lawrence stage setting. His songs ranged from the jaunty Walking Down Town with a Country Girl to the poignant and memorable Home to Manitoba.

Barber is a born raconteur.

His songs are introduced with anecdotes and stories that serve the narrative flavour of his music well. Although he is a proud Westerner, he understands the ambivalence about the west many prairie people have.

“Western Canada is young, I guess, and it just hasn’t laid down the roots it needs,” Barber told the audience. “So many young people just dream of leaving their small towns.”

His song about a waitress who spent all her young years believing that she needed to “escape” the prairies to find her “perfect man and perfect kids” touched a chord.

“Her dreams fell asleep on the top bunk/And woke up on the floor…”

He sang of the eternal hold the land has on Western Canadians in the touching Home to Manitoba.

“There’s a piece of land still holds/The shadow of my name..”

Barber also has a gift for sharing with listeners the hilarious, the ironic, the unexpected fun of every day life.

The crowd roared with laughter as he described in wonderful songs his misadventures as a travelling artist in the wilds of northern Manitoba, as a teenager driving his first blind date Jasmine in his mom’s 1992 Dodge Colt, as a secret lover of Archie comics.

Barber sings with passion and humour. His guitar doesn’t just accompany him, he makes it sing along with him. There is a lot of the poet in his song lyrics: he has a way of finding just the right way to say things.

When he completed his set audiences left the concert hall literally grinning.

Opening for Del Barber was Carleton Place artist Brea Lawrenson.

Only in the early days of a promising musical career, Lawrenson is still developing the polish, and the on-stage ease, that are so much the elements of a seasoned musical performer. However, as she grew more comfortable with the Saturday night audience, her lyrics became clearer, her singing more controlled. When she and brother Sean sang together, her talent was evident.

There is a lot of passion and power in this emerging young artist. Her deep love of family and her dreams for the future colour the lyrics of her songs like the touching Hold On (written about her mother’s support) and Somewhere to Go, her determination to make it in the musical world.

Brea Lawrenson will be an artist to watch as her career unfolds.

The audiences at the Saturday concert certainly enjoyed a memorable concert evening.

Del Barber, who told the Leader in an earlier interview that he likes to “read,” to “get the feel of his listeners” when he performs, found a whimsical and typically humorous way to tell Saturday’s concert goers how much he was enjoying his South Dundas reception.

“Sometimes when I perform, I feel a bit like a man wearing a hot dog costume trying to sell hot dogs to people who really want burgers. But here in Morrisburg, I kind of feel I’m a man in a hot dog suit selling hots dogs to people who actually want hot dogs.”

The next concert in the St. Lawrence Stage series will take place on November 19, an evening of Intimate Acoustics.

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The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry and the lower-tier municipalities within it are working on agreements that will change the snowplowing service to some area roads.

In April, SDG’s eight contract plow routes expired.

Rather than re-tendering the routes, the SDG is proposing to contract certain roads to local municipalities. This will eliminate the need for three contract trucks, and even with the compensation that will be provided to municipalities for their services, a savings of $165,000 could be realized over the five year contract term.

“There will be changes in the level of service,” said South Dundas manager of public works Chris Bazinet. Local municipal roads have a lower minimum maintenance standard than County Roads, so the roads changing from Counties to municipal snowplowing services will see a lesser level of service.

Those roads likely to change hands in South Dundas are County Road 4 (Lakeshore Drive), County Road 1 (Carman Road) south from County Road 2, and County Road 40 (Stampville Road).

South Dundas would receive about $20,000 financial compensation.

Two sections of County Roads in South Dundas will see new snowplow service providers if this plan comes to pass. The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville will take over plowing SDG County Road 2 from Marine Station Road to County Road 1 and SDG County Road 18 from Byker Road to County Road 1. In exchange, SDG will plow a Leeds and Grenville section of County Roads 43 and 20.

“The proposed plan represents a significant change to the winter maintenance operations and will result in measurable savings with minimal impact to the overall service provided by the County,” said Ben deHaan, SDG County Roads engineer.

“It’s a great plan,” South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke told South Dundas council when he provided his regular County council update to South Dundas council, May 19th. “It’s common sense.”

South Dundas mayor Evonne Delegarde added that Riverside Drive is being considered for a change in service too. She said that it would be plowed by the Counties rather than the municipality of South Dundas.

If that happens, Riverside Drive residents are likely to see a higher level of service than in the past.

There is still lots of summer fun yet to be enjoyed. And this weekend amid the enchanted forests of Woodlands Beach, families can enjoy a brand new Children’s Festival featuring:

· The Barnyard Petting Zoo,

· Bouncy Castle and Sports Inflatables;

· Free Face Painting by A Little Bit of Bling; and

· Princess Belle from the Fairytale Beauty and the Beast.

Also enjoy crafts, games a new forest themed play structure and roaming characters. Refreshments will be available at the Candy and Slushie stand or at the chip wagon.

The festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, August 18 and 19. Story reading with Princess Belle will take place at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. each day.

The event is supported through generous sponsorships by United Way Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Ontario Power Generation, Cornwall Honda, The Great Waterway and Kraft.

* Admission is $4.87 per person ($14.16 maximum vehicle charge) and children 12 years of age and younger are free.

Woodlands Beach is located on the Long Sault Parkway west of Cornwall, Ontario, on County Road 2 between the villages of Ingleside and Long Sault. From Highway 401 take exit 770 or exit 778.

“We have made numerous improvements throughout Parks of the St. Lawrence campgrounds and beach areas this year. Beach improvements, campsite upgrades and the recent addition of new playground equipment at our beach areas is a definite bonus for families looking to beat the heat this summer. The Children’s Festival is a new event we have added to give families an affordable way to come out and enjoy our parks,” said Lou Seiler, Manager of Parks & Recreation, St. Lawrence Parks Commission.

The dock’s about to rock as the 42nd annual Tubie Weekend is set for this weekend featuring Dock of Ages as the theme for this year’s Tubie Parade.

“We are really excited about this year’s tubie theme,” says Michael Domanko of the organizing committee. “I think it provides a lot of opportunity for classic rock and 80s big hair band inspired floats, which will take a lot of tubie participants, and spectators, back to their younger days.”

Although Domanko has heard lots of rumours about float themes, some even considering using their vessel as a vehicle for political satire, he has no confirmed knowledge of what creative entries will form part of this year’s parade. “One thing that is clear, is that the competitors are putting a lot of thought into their floats, but the final displays are pretty closely guarded until parade day.”

The tubie parade will take place at noon, Saturday, August 4, but this year that will not be the first tubie event. This year, the addition of Tubie a Teen, the new teen dance, will officially kick off the festivities. Taking place, Friday, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., under the big tent, organizers are hoping this inaugural teen dance will be a success. “I have heard a lot of positive comments about this event from the community, and specifically from the teens,” says Domanko.

While the teens will get to strut their stuff under the big tent Friday night, the older crowd will have their chance Saturday night when Ambush will rock the stage under the big tent from 8 p.m. to midnight.

The tubie races will take place at the Morrisburg dock Sunday at noon.

The state of the Morrisburg dock, which was this summer posted as unsafe for use, will not have an impact on the tubie races.

“The loss of the dock won’t affect us directly,” said Domanko, explaining that the starting line goes from the concrete wharf, not the wooden portion of the dock.

The number of teams set to participate in the races this year has not yet been firmed up, as the participants are notoriously late to register, but Domanko suspects the field of entries will be similar to that of last year. “We have a number of seasoned veterans returning to race in this year’s event,” said Domanko, who also confirmed that last year’s rookie champion, Katherine Lee will return to defend her title.

“We are really trying to encourage the younger people, like Katherine, to get involved in the race,” said Domanko. In an effort to do that, he would like those interested in getting involved in the race to contact him (mdomanko@sympatico.ca). “Even if you don’t have enough people for a team, contact me and we will try and find a place for you, in the race,” he said.

Although the Tubie dances, the parade and race are the weekend’s marquis events a number of other events will be taking place in Morrisburg throughout the weekend including Little Ray’s Reptiles Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Amphitheatre, a dog behaviour demo Saturday 2 p.m. at the dog park, the Lions Club Duck race Sunday, 10 a.m. at the Morrisburg beach and a free bouncy castle at the Docksyde at noon.